KrákÁsl Lv 11VIII (RagnSon 1) (Kráka/Áslaug)/5 — Blási ‘whistle’
Sitja veiðivitjar
vals á borgar hálsum;
böl er, þat er hefr um hafnat
hrafn Sigurðar nafni.
Blási nýtinjótar
nás í spán at hánum;
ofsnemma lét Óðinn
álf valmeyjar deyja.
Veiðivitjar vals sitja á hálsum borgar; böl er, þat er hrafn hefr um hafnat nafni Sigurðar. Blási nýtinjótar nás í spán at hánum; Óðinn lét álf valmeyjar deyja ofsnemma.
Hunting-visitors of the slain [RAVENS] sit on the heights of the fortress; it is a misfortune that the raven has forsaken the name of Sigurðr. Let the devourers of the dead [RAVENS/EAGLES] whistle for him; Óðinn caused the elf of the carnage-maiden [VALKYRIE > WARRIOR] to die too early.
notes
[5-6] blási … í spán at hánum ‘let … whistle for him’: Lit. ‘Let [birds of prey] blow into wood-shavings towards him’. The expression blása í spán at with dat. is of uncertain meaning, but is clearly idiomatic. Kock (NN §182) and the present ed. accept Finnur Jónsson’s understanding of this (in Skj B and in LP: spônn; cf. Hb 1892-6) as meaning ‘go without, wait in vain for’; Kock quotes (with its German and Dutch equivalents) the Modern English expression ‘whistle for’, understood in the sense of ‘seek or expect in vain’. Old Norse spánn m. has several meanings, including ‘wood-shavings, matchwood, spoon (what is left after the shavings have been removed (?)’ (LP: spônn). There is no need, as Kock (NN §1469B) indicates, to emend this 3rd pers. pres. subj. blási to indic. blása, as do Finnur Jónsson in Hb 1892-6 and Skj B and Guðni Jónsson in FSGJ.